The present invention relates to a novel support for anastomosing or connecting living organs. More particularly, the present invention relates to a support with high safety which can be used as a support for a living tissue in anastomosing or connecting living organs in a living body and which eliminates the need for being taken out after the surgery but is quickly dissolved away in body fluid in the living body.
A support is seldom used in anastomosing or connecting living organs, especially when sutures are performed. However, a support is often utilized when an adhesive is employed for anastomosing and connecting. For instance, in the case of skin adhesion, as is commonly practiced, the incised wound is first properly closed by the operator's fingers or by using a support and/or other instruments, then a piece of cloth made of polyethylene terephthalate or such cut to a width of 1.5 cm and a length slightly greater than the length of the wound is placed on the wound surface and an adhesive is dropped thereonto for effecting desired skin adhesion.
There are known the cases, although experimental ones, using a support tube for adhesion of blood vessels, in which a support tube made of a synthetic polymer such as polyglycolic acid which is decomposed in living body is inserted into the two ends of the blood vessels to be connected, and an adhesive is applied to the adherend end surfaces of the blood vessels for connecting them.
In the case of suture, if it becomes possible to use a support which can be inserted into tubular organs such as blood vessels, digestive organs, glands, etc., at the time of anastomosing or connecting these organs, the portion to be sutured will be stabilized in form, allowing secure and quick prosecutation of desired suture. In the actual surgerys, however, because of fine site of operation, a long time will be needed and also a highly expert hands of the operator will be required.
In order to solve these problems and to facilitate the surgery, use of an adhesive instead of suture has been proposed. In case of using an adhesive, the necessity for a support increases. When a tubular support is used in an organ in a living body, however, such support can not be taken out after the surgery, so that such support must be the one which is easily dissolved in body fluid in the organ. Especially in the case of blood vessels, thrombosis tends to occur around extraneous bodies when exist in the blood vessel, so that it is essential that the support must be dissolved away promptly. The in vivo decomposable polymers such as polyglycolic acid mentioned above are very slow to dissolve and therefore have a high probability of causing thrombosis. In order to prevent this, it has been attempted to treat the surface of the support contacted with blood with an antithrombotic agent, but no successful case has ever been reported.
Thus, there has been growing request for the development of a support which can be inserted into a tubular organ in a living body at the time of anastomosis or connection thereof to serve as a support for a living tissue and which eliminates the need for being taken out from the blood vessels after the surgery but is quickly dissolved away in body fluid in the organ, and moreover, is highly safe in use.
As a result of the studies on how to solve said problems, the present inventors found that a support made of a monosaccharide, oligosaccharide, polysaccharide, a mixture thereof or polyvinyl pyrrolidone could achieve the above-described aim and also easy to form, and the present invention has been achieved base on this finding.